ASL therapy
by fantasy is everything
Summary: Previously known as "The Stars of the Show". Now expanded to include further stories about our favourite trio of brothers, musing about what could have been if fate (or Oda) had been kinder to the poor captain. Contains a different Marineford, travels to Alabasta, a reunion on Dawn and letters. Taking requests now!
1. The stars of the show

_Original A/N: Just a short story, not much more than a bit of rambling, really. Mostly consists of snippets of dialogue because I didn't have the time to rewatch the whole Marineford Arc, and because I didn't want to get into the logistics of a battle._

 _So really, just a bit of ASL awesomeness. Enjoy._

 _Oh, and I can't resist advertising a bit: Check out my main story. While it has quite a few OCs in it, I've been told that they fit in well into the OP Universe, and they're not, in any way or shape, Mary Sues. So if you adore ASL as much as I do, give it a try!_

 _xXx_

 _A/N: Now expanded, guys! This story will contain short stories with varying lengths (the first probably the shortest, if I know myself) all focused on our favourite set of brothers! Those familiar with my stories probably know writing those fluffy little scenes about Ace, Sabo and Luffy is a guilty pleasure of mine. So, here we go!_

 _xXx_

 _Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece. Please, comfort me._

 _xXx_

Summary: Marineford AU. Story written under the (admittedly uncreative) premise that our favourite blonde brother regained his memories shortly before the battle. To what lengths would Sabo go to save his big brother?

xXx

 **The stars of the show**

„Dragon, I want to ask for a favour. As your adoptive son."

…

"Permission to come aboard?"

…

"The nature of our relationship is of no importance. Suffice to say, I owe him more than can ever be put in words or paid back."

…

"Great Eruption!"

A strange kind of silence filled the battlefield of Marineford as the Red Dog of the Marines unleashed his signature attack. A sense of doom not unlike the one caused by Whitebeard's seaquake spread not only amongst the spectators on Sabaody Archipelago, but also amongst many of the fighters sweating and bleeding for their cause.

As the meteor shower descended upon them, threatening to burn enemy and friend alike, a sudden gust of wind filled the bay. It was almost as if a hurricane had sprung up out of nowhere, extinguishing the flames of the Admiral's attack, the rocks crumbling to pieces as they were hit by sharp gusts.

"You're late," Whitebeard grumbled, seemingly unbothered by the show of force as he looked down on the man that had appeared next to him out of nowhere.

"This is your show," the hooded man replied indifferently. "I'm merely a guest. I can afford to show up at the most opportune time."

Before the great populace could comprehend the new development on the battlefield, crows filled the air, their shrill croaking making even experienced warriors flinched. By the time they had dissipated into a tall, hunchbacked man's cloak, the lines of the pirates were filled with new blood, ready and eager to participate in the battle.

"Garp!" Sengoku bellowed from the execution stand, the aforementioned Vice-Admiral already on his way up at seeing the new arrivals. "What is he doing here?"

"Bwahaha!" Garp laughed, before his face grew unusually serious. "I don't have a clue. This is out of character for him."

Turning towards the next victim, the Fleet-Admiral shouted, "You! How do you know Dragon?!"

But Portgas D. Ace, the star of the show, was just as clueless as everybody else amongst the Marines. "I don't," he said lowly, staring into the bay with fascination as he laid eyes on the Most Wanted Man for the first time.

In the end, the answer was provided by a voice from the newly arrived forces. "Yoooo! Ace!"

All eyes turned towards the scarred blonde, previously unnoticed, but now unmistakably recognisable as the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army, who'd started to rise in ever increasing notoriety over the past year.

As far as Ace was aware, he'd never met the man, didn't know his face, his name, his everything. So why was he addressing him so familiarly? "Ace! Don't you dare follow me into my non-existing grave!"

The raven squinted, trying to make out the features of the man calling for his attention. Once successful, he blanched. Top hat with goggles … ridiculous napkin … "I still haven't laughed at your tattoo!"

At that, a tick mark developed on Ace's forehead. Oh, the nerve of him … Ace very pointedly ignored the wetness of his eyes. "Oi, Sabo, you bastard! What are you doing here?!" Because, as wonderful as it was to see the asshole alive, he really should be anywhere but here.

The blonde had the nerve to grin. "Saving my big brother, of course!"

…

"Ace! We're here to save you! We're all here to save you!"

"Get in line, Luffy!"

"Eeeeh?! Sabo?!"

…

"I'm the man who's gonna be Pirate King!"

…

"I'm proud. You turned out wonderfully, Luffy."

"Eh? Who're you, ossan?"

"I'm your father."

"Ah, that's nice." The straw hat pirate stuck a finger up his nose.

"I agree." The hooded man didn't follow his son's example to preserve some of his mystique.

…

On that day, the three demon brothers showed the world why it should be very, very grateful that they could never agree on who would be the captain.


	2. The Wanted poster

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise._

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Summary: On a sunny day like any other, Portgas D. Ace stumbles across a very familiar picture printed on a Wanted poster. But that's impossible, isn't it?

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 **The Wanted poster**

Portgas D. Ace, second commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, proud man wanted for more than 400 million, didn't know how long he sat there as if lightning had struck him, the cheerful chattering in the mess hall fading into the background as his fingers clenched around the innocuous piece of paper in his hands.

Wanted, it said underneath a picture that had practically ripped Ace's heart out when he first laid eyes on it, the four letters spelling out the name of the blonde criminal cementing his heart attack. Sabo. Sabo, who'd wanted to sail around the world and write a book about his adventures. Sabo, who'd valued freedom above everything else, and yet had given it up for Ace and Luffy. Sabo, who'd decided to follow his dream and been shot down for the audacity.

Sabo, the bastard who'd let him and Luffy believe that he was dead for years, had let them mourn him, miss him without any regards to their feelings. But as quickly as the anger surfaced, it was gone again, replaced with indescribable relief and confusion. They were brothers. They'd been inseparable even before they'd shared a cup of sake to cement their relationship. This wasn't like him at all. Why hadn't he contacted either of them to let them know he was safe?

Surely he must have known how worried they were, must have known that they'd hear about the explosion, miraculous that it was that he'd survived it at all. Sabo of all people would've had to realise that they thought he was dead, right?

And even if he hadn't, Ace had been out on sea for two years now – that was plenty of time to get into contact with him, busy revolutionary or not. Especially once he'd risen to even greater notoriety by joining the Whitebeard Pirates. Ace didn't believe for one second that the Revolutionary Army had no means of contacting the most powerful Yonko in the New World.

"Hey Ace," he heard Marco's concerned voice and rapidly blinked to clear his wet eyes. "Are you alright?"

Ace replied with a brittle smile and nodded. "Yeah it's just," he replied, rolling his eyes as he regained his composure. "It's just Sabo," he added with a pointed tone as if that somehow explained everything. Marco's confusion, though, was obvious. "He's a smartass," Ace finished and rolled up the wanted poster, keeping it in his left hand even as he continued eating.

"I didn't know you knew any revolutionaries," Marco said cautiously, eyeing him dubiously as he folded the newspaper he'd been reading. Ace would probably be eternally grateful that the first commander was such a nerd and insisted on keeping up with everything going on in the world outside of the Moby Dick. Otherwise, Ace might have gone his whole life missing the piece of himself Sabo'd claimed as his first friend and brother.

"I didn't know either," Ace mumbled with a full mouth, earning another confused look from Marco due to a lack of understanding. "Anyways, do we have any way of contacting the Revolutionary Army?" he asked once he'd swallowed, mind turning towards what the heck he was supposed to do now that he knew his brother was a very alive asshole. "Like Den Den Mushis or letters or something?"

With a tiny hint of embarrassment, Ace realised that he had never bothered to find out if the Whitebeard Pirates had any sort of relationship with the Revolutionary Army. Alright, so he wasn't interested in government and stuff, but maybe, he should start finding out about these things. He was the second commander now, after all.

"Well, we generally follow a 'live and let live' policy concerning them," Marco answered with a shrug. "But I'm kind of a fan of their work, so I have a couple of contacts. Why?"

That … didn't sound like he'd easily be able to call one of the top guys from the Army, as Sabo obviously was with his bounty, which (as Ace had gleefully noted once he'd calmed down a bit) was still lower than his. From now on, though, he'd clearly have to put in some effort to stay ahead.

"If I wrote a letter," Ace started, ignoring the outraged and incredulous looks from all around, "do you think you could get it to him?"

Marco scrutinized him, clearly burning to ask more questions but in the end, he apparently decided to let Ace keep his secrets for a while. It would come out at some point one way or another. "Sure thing, yoi."

Ace smiled. Great. Now he'd only have to figure out how to write a letter to a suddenly undead brother with a fetish for grammar.

xXx

Sabo frowned in confusion as he looked at the crumpled letter that had come in with the morning post today. He'd opened it first, seeing its untidy state, worrying that one of his contacts had gotten into trouble and had to contact him in a hurry. But that assumption was quickly abandoned once he read the first line.

 _'Dear Sabo,'_ it said, the lines underneath scratched out, tiny letters written above the old lines only to be viciously covered with black ink once again. What a mess. But, considering that it didn't seem to have been written in a hurry, it was at least unlikely he'd have to stage a spontaneous rescue operation.

When he skipped towards the first legible words, though, nearly halfway down the page, his relieved smile froze as his eyes flitted over the sentences.

 _'Oh, fuck this. I'm not the clever brother, I don't know to write letters, and no matter what I write, you're going to laugh at me anyways._

 _I don't know what's going on in your head, Sabo, but you owe me an explanation. We thought you were dead. For years. And then I suddenly see your face on a wanted poster of all things. I just … Luffy cried. For weeks, he kept clinging to me, and I didn't have a clue what to do._

 _It doesn't matter. I don't care. Just get your ass over here. Knowing you, there's some kind of explanation, even if it'll suck._

 _Your brother, Ace (with a bounty of 430 million. Eat this.)'_

Ace … your brother, Ace … Sabo's eyes fixed on the signature, the words repeating in his head over and over again. His brother. He had a brother? A brother called Ace … and someone named Luffy. There were people mourning him, people who'd thought he'd died in the explosion.

Somehow, it had never occurred to him that there were people back on Dawn Island who still cared about him. And even if there were, he hadn't wanted to know, not after what Dragon had told him of their first encounter. After what had reportedly happened before his disastrous departure, and after everything he'd seen in service of the Revolutionary Army, he didn't want anything to do with the noble life he'd once have to have led.

And yet, here there was someone claiming to be his brother, and from the looks of it, that person was anything but a noble. The abysmal letter-writing skills alone were proof of that, but the proud declaration of a bounty on his head cemented that idea. And somehow, for some reason, Sabo couldn't help but feel irritated that his bounty was smaller (even if it was only by 60 million, and he'd catch up soon, damn it).

Despite the flash of annoyance he'd felt, Sabo couldn't help but smile hesitantly. Because caring about measuring up against someone he'd never met wasn't his style. And that could only mean … that could only mean there was some truth to what this Ace had written, and that truth was starting to wear on the walls amnesia and his own determination and stubbornness had built around his memories.

Abruptly, he jumped up from his chair and left his room, heading towards the postal service on Baltigo. He had his suspicions who this Ace was, of course, there weren't that many people with bounties that high around his age and that particular name, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure. Besides, a Whitebeard Pirate, really? That didn't sit quite right with him, felt kind of strange to consider, the same way Ace's higher bounty had bugged him before.

For the first time in as long as he could remember, Sabo actually wanted to have memories of his childhood, if only to make sense of the strange emotions he was experiencing and the weird knowledge he suddenly possessed.

"Hey, do you know where this letter came from?" he asked the first guy he came across when he finally arrived there. After a few minutes of questions being called throughout the room, pushing around and the letter being torn from his reluctant hands, finally, finally someone could give him an answer.

"Came from the Moby Dick. What does Marco the Phoenix want with you now, brat?" After another few minutes redirecting questions and evading answers, Sabo was back in his room, letter in one hand, Ace's wanted poster in the other, a stupid grin on his face.

He might not remember his brother yet, but he would. Soon. As if he'd ever give up on his memories, now that he knew there was a life worth remembering.

xXx

Ace clumsily opened the door to his cabin, pleasantly buzzed from the obligatory 'We just restocked on alcohol' party that always happened on the first night after they'd arrived on an island. What wasn't so normal, however, was that his cabin wasn't empty when he returned to it.

"You seemed like you were having fun," Sabo (Sabo!) said softly, looking up from where he was sitting on his bed. "I didn't want to ruin it, or embarrass you or something. So I figured I'd wait here for you to turn in," he added hesitantly, uncharacteristic insecurity written all over his face.

As the door fell shut behind him, Ace just stood there, maybe two armlengths away from his long lost brother, unable to move, uncertain whether he could believe his eyes. The breath hitched in his throat as he drank in the sight of him, so familiar and yet unfamiliar, still Sabo, but all grown-up, and …

His eyes stopped at the scar marring the left side of his brother's face. There was no doubt in Ace's heart that this was the remnant from the incident that had taken Sabo from them, from his brothers, the incident that had caused all of them so much pain.

Sabo didn't flinch back when Ace stumbled forward, caught himself, and hesitantly stretched out his fingers towards the blonde's face, but he did look somewhat wary, even more uncertain than before. Then, he realised what Ace was doing.

"So that's where …" Ace mumbled as he tenderly touched the scar tissue, for a great part just to reassure himself Sabo was really here in front of him. Something wet trailed down his cheek, and it didn't take long for him to realise that he was crying. But for once, he didn't mind being a crybaby like Luffy. He had more than enough reason to.

It was almost as if that thought, that realisation had finally hammered it home. Sabo was here. He was alive. Before Ace even noticed what he was doing, he'd thrown his arms around his brother, drawn him into an uncharacteristic hug, but Ace wasn't the same person he'd been nine years ago. He might still not be a very trusting person, nor was he a fan of unnecessary human contact, but this was Sabo. Sabo, who was alive.

"Ace …" Sabo muttered, clearly trying to say something even as he tentatively returned the hug he'd no doubt been surprised by. But Ace didn't care if Sabo teased him about this for ages to come.

"Shut up," Ace cut him off, fingers clenching in the blonde's tidy black jacket. "Just shut up, you asshole. I'm trying to enjoy the moment." And shut up he did, fortunately, until Ace finally regained some control over his emotions again. Reluctantly, he let go off his brother, but even as Ace sat down on the bed, Sabo joining him after a brief moment of hesitance, Ace didn't let him out of his sight for even a second. "What happened, Sabo?" he finally asked, still too relieved to sound accusing.

Sabo looked at his hands. "After the explosion, the Revolutionaries saved me. Apparently, I met Dragon in High Town the night before the fire and left something of an impression," he started, pausing hesitantly after each sentence. "I …" he continued, before breaking off again, looking into Ace's eyes with uncertainty. "I nearly died, Ace. It took me months to bodily recover from my injuries, and … and my memories never returned. I only knew that I didn't want to go back to my parents, whoever they were."

Sabo didn't remember? Did he still not remember? With dread, Ace thought back to the last few moments, the uncertainty on Sabo's face, the surprise. Sure, that could have come from years being apart, from being caught of guard by Ace's admittedly unusual behaviour, but … The recognition in his eyes had only been vague, Ace realised now. There was clearly something there, but Sabo hadn't regained his memories yet.

"You don't remember," Ace said dully, trying not to feel as heartbroken as he did. It wasn't Sabo's fault, after all. "God, I just knew your reason would suck."

At his exasperated tone, Sabo chuckled in surprise. "You're taking this a lot better than I'd have expected. I figured you'd be more of a hothead," he said with a lot less hesitance this time, the much too familiar smartass tone soothing the pain of the revelation a little bit.

Because even if Sabo didn't remember, he was still so much his brother. "Oi, who're you calling a hothead?! I'm perfectly balanced, just so you know!" Ace shouted, pointing at the blonde with an accusing finger, causing the chuckling to transform into full-blown laughter.

And wasn't that a sound Ace had yearned to hear for years. A broad grin of his own blossomed on his face. "Gah, you're so much trouble," he complained. "Who'd have thought I'd be the one who has to tell the story of our lives?"

xXx

Sabo woke up on the following day and felt complete. Tired, but complete.

Turning around carefully in the small bed he must have fallen asleep in at some point during the night, he immediately got full view of his big brother snoring away gloriously. Warmth spread through his chest at the sight, incredible fondness for the hardhead of a brother who'd managed to break through amnesia by telling stories of all things.

And Ace was surprisingly good at it. Considering how out of tune he'd been with his emotions when Sabo'd … left, he knew very well how to elicit them within others. Even last night, when his memories had been no more than niggling feelings of familiarity, he'd been practically able to picture Luffy in all his impossible awesomeness, Dadan with her manly care, Garp's loving fists and the sweetness of Makino's cookies.

A contended smile spread across Sabo's face. It had really paid off to take some time off and search out the Whitebeard Pirates, no matter how many raised eyebrows it had caused when word had first gotten out about it. False rumours of a potential alliance were meaningless in comparison to meeting his brother and actually remembering him now, as well. Sleep really did heal all wounds.

He'd have to extend the vacation, Sabo considered, and take a trip to the East Blue. Maybe he could even convince Ace to come. Knowing him, he'd jump at any excuse to visit his little brother. The only reason he probably hadn't done so already was paranoia and the promise of leading their own adventures.

Grimacing as his stomach grumbled, Sabo climbed out of bed, careful not to wake Ace. His poor brother had exhausted himself emotionally so much yesterday, he deserved to have a bit more sleep. To prevent another heart attack, though, Sabo left his hat in plain sight before leaving the second commander's cabin.

Now, how to find some food … and not to forget, to introduce himself. Sabo smirked evilly. Oh, Ace was so going to regret that he remembered now. All the stories he could tell about cute, broody little Ace – was there any better blackmail material on this planet?

Following his excellent nose, Sabo soon found the mess hall, lunch obviously full swing as nobody looked up when a stranger entered the room. Cute. Apparently, the Whitebeard Pirates had gotten complacent when someone as eye-catching as him didn't raise eyebrows. But then again, he wasn't wearing his awesome hat, and anyone would be foolish to attack them on their own ship, so maybe, they could be forgiven.

When Sabo lined up at the serving counter, he finally received the first dubious looks. So far, nobody had confronted him about it, though, as they seemed to wonder whether they were supposed to know him. The Whitebeard Pirates were, after all, a rather sizable crew.

Unsurprisingly, it took a commander to actually address the elephant in the room most people hadn't even noticed yet. "Who're you?" the fourth commander Thatch asked eloquently, withholding the piece of meat he'd been about to put onto the plate before he realised that he didn't recognise the person asking for food. Sabo probably shouldn't be surprised. As the head cook, he probably knew the allergies of just about anyone on the ship, so a sudden addition would hardly slip by his attention.

As admirable as that was, Sabo was more distracted by the fact that Thatch was keeping his food hostage. "I'm a stowaway," the blonde said cheerfully, using the cook's surprise to steal the piece of meat and swallow it in a manner that would've made Luffy proud. "Please take good care of me!"

"What?!" Thatch shrieked as Sabo quickly gathered up as much food as he could grab before making a break for it, the attention of the entire room now on him.

Sabo cackled as he raced through the hallways, quickly gaining quite the crowd behind him. He was so popular! It was kind of sweet of Ace's crewmates to welcome him this enthusiastically. With a big grin and a few jaunty waves that almost made him lose a precious bun, the blonde quickly found himself lost.

How big could a ship get, seriously? It couldn't be that difficult to find a way outside, could it? Sabo quickly found himself eating that mental statement when he'd somehow managed to circle around to find the tail end of his group of pursuers. And unfortunately, they found him as well.

Cursing softly under his breath while apologising to his brother in his mind for making such a mess of things, Sabo spontaneously decided to take a leaf out of the shitty geezer's book and kicked in a wall, careful not to lose any of his precious provisions.

Blessedly, the path he'd created sent fresh air barrelling into him, and Sabo declared loudly, "I'm freeeee!" as he kicked the air rapidly and landed safely in the crow's nest.

The crowd was gaping at the blonde high up in the air, led by the cooking commander Sabo'd managed to piss off earlier. He couldn't help but grin mischievously as he devoured a sumptuous, absolutely delicious piece of chocolate cake with relish, licking his fingers as people pointed up at him and his hoard of goodies.

Then, somebody cleared his throat behind him.

Sabo looked up, finger still stuck in his mouth and trying his best to look cute as Marco the Phoenix peered down at him with no small measure of irritation.

His gaze grew even sharper as Sabo turned towards him, curiosity entering his shrewd eyes. "You're from the Revolutionary Army," he stated with surprise, the crowd beneath them gaping downright audibly. "The second-in-command, Sabo."

Sabo popped his finger audibly from his mouth, forming a peace sign with his now free hand. He grinned brightly. "Guilty!"

Marco looked at him unblinkingly, his mouth twitching only a tiny bit. Sabo silently celebrated a victory. "What are you doing here?"

Down below them, there were cries of desperation, joy and excitements, shouts of "We're pirates! We ain't got nothing to do with revolution!" and "Let's go kick Marine arse!" in about equal measure. What a lively group.

"I come," Sabo announced, tipping his currently non-existent head for dramatic tension, "bearing gifts."

Marco looked at him again as if he was questioning his sanity, before his eyes flickered disapprovingly towards the stolen food. "Gifts?"

"Indeed," Sabo nodded sagely. "You know, when I was ten, the most hilarious thing happened. My brothers and I used to fight this big-ass tiger to refine our skills, and we were just at the beginning of another try to defeat this king of the forest, when the tiger swiped his tail. And knocked out my big brother."

Silence.

"You should have seen his face! Can you imagine it? He used to think himself undefeatable, and then he got knocked out by a fricking tail!"

Silence.

"Or, you know, that other time? We were just exploring a cave when we encountered a cute little family of bears. We were just looking at each other, wide-eyed, before, and I swear this is true, the Mama bear pats forward a step, places a paw on my big brother's head, and makes him sleep at her side! She totally mistook him for one of her cubs!"

Silence.

"You know, I always told him he should have cut his hair before it got tangled, but he never listened to me! See where that got him?"

Once again, he didn't get a response from his attentive crowd. Sabo pouted. Why couldn't they appreciate the hilarity of those situations? Oh, right, because …

"Sabo! What are you doing!" Ace screeched as he shot out onto the deck, using the door like the crashing boor he secretly was, stopping just underneath the mast.

"I eat, and I run, dearest big brother of mine," he stated like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Good old times, eh?" he continued, chucking a piece of meat towards his brother who elegantly caught it with his mouth.

Ace looked at him with surprise, the expression softening quickly as he apparently picked out something that told him Sabo genuinely knew what he was talking about. "You …" he started, his voice thick with emotion.

"Wait, you were the one who got knocked out by a tiger's tail?" Thatch asked incredulously, before grinning brightly. "And who got adopted by a mama bear?" Quiet snickers that threatened roaring laughter to come sounded across the deck as a tick mark developed on Ace's head.

"Sabo! I'm going to kill you!"

"Ah, family," Sabo sighed towards Marco, who was now scrutinizing him with undisguised interest. "Gotta love them, right?"

xXx

 _A/N: What did you think? I once read a story about Ace coming across Sabo's wanted poster, and I liked it a lot! Sorry, can't remember who wrote it, though, and when you look for something on this site, you're guaranteed not to find it. Anyways, this is my spin on it!_

 _Thanks, btw, for the reviews to the Stars of the Show! That was really where this whole story started. I decided there simply couldn't be enough ASL fluff out there, so I'm just gonna publish my ideas here, without any long and complicated plot to follow. Just the moments we would have loved the most to see._

 _This is a place to de-stress and imagine what could have been. So:_ _If you have any requests concerning ASL, please let me know! I'll try to make your dreams come true!_


	3. Visiting Dawn

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise._

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Summary: Since he's already in the neighbourhood, Sabo gets bullied into visiting his home island. Whatever might he find there?

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 **Visiting Dawn**

There was trash as far as the eye could see. There were broken toys, some speaking of the violence of their owners, others so loved they were coming apart at the seams. There was old furniture, parts of it broken in the transition or in the scuffles that probably broke out in these slums on a regular basis. There were bottles leaking stinking liquid onto the disgusting ground, vomit in the most unimaginable places, and piles of former nourishment in various states of decay.

Amidst those piles and towers, there were small pathways, winding through the trash in an attempt of civilization, occasionally leading to humble, unstable abodes that hid dirty, frail humans within them. Wary eyes snapped from one movement to the next, always expecting a threat lurking just around the corner, hardly ever closing for a restless bout of sleep.

Those suspicious eyes turned angry as they scrutinized the newcomer's gait, his clothing, his sturdy boots and gloves. Only the man's muscular build and measured movements saved him from being labelled as an easy target, instead only attacked with vicious glares.

Sabo would have honestly preferred if they'd simply attacked him, if only to distract him from the churning feeling in his stomach. He wasn't sure if it was nervousness, a disturbing familiarity or disgust. Disgust at those living behind the walls in the distance, looking down their noses at the people who they'd banished from their city, who they'd declared less than human.

Maybe he shouldn't have come back here, after all. He shouldn't have listened to Koala when she'd heard he was going on a mission in the East Blue. Instead, he should've listened to his own feelings which were screaming at him not to go back to that hellhole, and should've ignored the tiny voice insisting that surely, not everything could have been bad.

Sabo had a lot of faith in his own strength of character, in his beliefs, in the decisions he made because of them. But despite this, he sometimes doubted that he could have survived ten years, ten years that rightfully should have been his most impressionable, surrounded by the trash he hated so much, and not have adopted their philosophy. He'd been a child – he had to have had a role model or a like-minded peer somewhere, right?

A curse had his head swivelling to the right where it had come from. All in all, there was a pervasive silence amongst the trash heaps, only broken by falling debris or far-off scuffles that warranted nothing more than occasionally concerned glances. But so far, nobody had dared to address him yet. "What did you say?" His voice was a mixture between curious and warning.

"Called you a demon, brat," the dirty man slurred, a wave of alcohol and old sweat entering Sabo's nose to his dismay. "'S what ya've always been. Fucking demon brat. The worst o'them." The man staggered, and Sabo reflexively reached out to steady him despite himself.

The glare grew only worse. "Daddy kick ya outta his house, eh? Heard ya abandoned them for a life behind those walls, didn't ya?" Sabo's heart started pounding as if he was running for his life while his hand clenched around the man's thin arm.

"Who? Who are you talking about?" he asked desperately, not sure he even wanted to know. This man recognised him – he hadn't always lived in the constricting city on the horizon. But he'd abandoned someone to return to his comfortable noble life.

Sabo was utterly disgusted with himself. What kind of person had he been to actually prefer a life behind fancy high walls, following the expectations of beings that barely qualified as humans in his eyes? Why on earth would he voluntarily choose to sell his soul for the sake of a safe, protected life?

"The other brats," the man explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Maybe it should've been for Sabo. "Completely destroyed them, ya did. They weren't ever the same, never. Didn't come round much, too," he added, before breathing quietly. "All the better."

Sabo's throat was painfully dry, and his stomach was positively clenched with painful nausea. A cold sweat formed on his forehead, the tiny drops leaving a wet path on his cheeks as they ran down to his chin. "Where?" he choked, shaking the man's arm frantically.

"Shouldn't ya know?" the man snorted derisively, but paused at Sabo's frightening, desperate glare. "I dunno!" he shouted, ineffectively trying to break free of the blonde's grip. "Ya came from the forests, I dunno where!"

As his struggling grew more intense, Sabo finally let him slip from his numb fingers, the rough cursing slowly fading as the man disappeared amongst the trash. But all this barely registered in Sabo's mind as he turned towards the forest he'd foolishly dismissed as unimportant, despite how many times his feet had unwittingly carried him in its direction during his trek through the slums.

Would they want to see him again? If Sabo'd abandoned them all those years ago, maybe betrayed them, even, they'd probably spent this entire time since then cursing his name, his very existence. And why shouldn't they?

Desperately, Sabo wished he could remember what had happened seven years ago. Who those other brats the man had talked about were, what they had at some point meant to him. But the blonde couldn't help but feel like he'd made a horrible mistake by not coming back sooner, that he shouldn't have just dismissed them from his mind. That they were more important than the discomfort of reclaiming his missing memories.

His first steps were barely more than clumsy stumbling, lacking the easy grace that normally defined his movements. Absent-mindedly, he wondered why nobody'd attacked him yet when he looked like such a clumsy fool. Maybe they remembered the demon brat, too?

Despite that stray thought, Sabo continued walking, his gait slowly growing more assured again even if he still felt as insecure as before. It wouldn't do to question other residents about his past – the ones who'd know were likely somewhere in this forest. So the forest was where Sabo would go.

What if they weren't here anymore? Maybe they'd left the island already or moved to some other part of it. And even if they hadn't – the island was so big. Small compared to others he'd been to, but far too big to be searching aimlessly for people he didn't even know name or number of. Could he really just stumble through the roots, bushes and trees, simply hoping he'd luck out and stumble over something familiar?

What if he didn't even recognise them when he was standing before them? Sabo felt panic rising in his chest. What if they knew him, and he didn't know them? His memories were gone. Why would they return now, when he needed them the most? They'd never done him the favour before.

He was already far into the forest by the time he realised his feet were following a non-existent path. Was this his subconsciousness telling him the right way to go? Or was he simply lost? The too large paw prints that occasionally crossed his way hardly even registered in his mind.

At long last, Sabo entered a clearing, a large tree decorating the middle of it. Slowly, he came to a stop. Was that a treehouse up there in the canopy? Even as he wondered about this, he noticed that the wood looked rotten, several of the planks missing or lying at the base of the tree. Whoever had once lived here was long gone.

Had this once been his home? It couldn't be a coincidence that this was the first place he'd instinctively searched out in this forest, could it? But the hut looked like it had been abandoned for a long time – whoever had lived here once hadn't returned in years. Like Sabo.

A distant crash snapped Sabo out of his distressed musings. A last, thoughtful glance towards the abandoned treehouse and he was off through the trees again, trying to pinpoint where the noise had originated from.

As he moved further into that direction, he soon heard determined shouting. Unfortunately, even as he got closer, it stayed indecipherable to him. Considering that whoever this was coming from was either fighting or training, that probably wasn't all that surprising.

This time, Sabo stepped into the sunlight to look up a high cliff, hundreds of sharp shards littering the ground at its base. Several huge rocks were still situated amongst them, a teenager just shattering another one to pieces with a loud scream.

If Sabo'd met the teen on the street, he'd never have suspected that he hid such power within his body. Small and lanky, probably just coming out of a growth spurt, the boy cut anything but an intimidating figure. Still, his power was undeniable when he threw his fist back again, directing it at the next stone closest to him. A Devil Fruit user. How rare in the East Blue.

Maybe he'd noticed him entering the clearing. Maybe Sabo'd made a sound of surprise at seeing the boy's arm stretch inhumanely. Or maybe he'd just turned around coincidentally, Sabo didn't know. But suddenly, he was peering into huge black eyes, framed by tousled, sweaty black hair, a broad grin lighting up his face when he looked at the blonde.

"Sabo!" he greeted enthusiastically. "Did you see that? Now you and Ace totally can't call me weak anymore!" He jumped closer to the dumbfounded blonde, plopping down to the ground with his legs crossed, pouting slightly. "You're hardly ever around anymore. It's been ages! Were you busy? You're still visiting Ace, right?"

Sabo felt completely overwhelmed by the onslaught of words, especially coupled with the kid's immediate recognition and acceptance. "I …" he stuttered, uncertain what he could say. Why couldn't he remember this boy and this Ace, when he was apparently supposed to be deeply familiar with them, judging from the way the boy treated him? And what did he mean, he hardly wasn't around? He hadn't returned to Dawn Island since the explosion!

"Na, na, it's okay, I'm not mad," the dark-haired boy immediately tacked on at Sabo's clumsy silence. "You probably have a lot of fun where you're now, right? I bet there's tons of meat! Ace did say you were in paradise now," he added, a little more quietly, before lighting up again. "I'll meet you there again, I promise! But I still gotta become Pirate King first!"

Sabo felt like crying. They believed he was dead. Of course, they did. And he'd never once tried to return to them, to tell them that he was fine, that they shouldn't worry about him. Had never come back to this bright kid to make sure he didn't lose his smile.

"I …" he stuttered again but didn't manage to form a coherent sentence. It was as if he'd lost his silver tongue somewhere along the dirty paths of the gigantic junkyard, somewhere in the thick canopy, stolen by a mischievous magpie.

What could he possibly say to this positive, yet terribly sad boy, who didn't see anything wrong with seeing someone he'd believed to be dead for many years? What could he possibly say when this boy had mourned him for such a long time while Sabo couldn't even be bothered to at least try to remember his past?

A light frown formed on the raven's face as the silence settled for awfully long, uncomfortable seconds. "You're not usually this quiet," he muttered, his expression turning worried. "Did something happen to Ace? But that's impossible! He promised me he wouldn't die!"

At some distant corner of his mind, Sabo recognised that he was pretty close to a mental breakdown. Somehow, though, he managed to restrain himself to a choked sob as he sunk to his knees in front of the young raven. Slowly, he raked a shaking hand through his blonde locks, sending his top hat tumbling to the forest floor in the process.

He exhaled very consciously.

"I'm sure Ace is fine," he finally said, only the slightest tremble in his otherwise calm voice. Silently, he prayed that he wasn't lying to the boy right now. "I'm …" he started again, his voice cracking. But this time, he refused to back out. "I'm not a ghost. I'm really here," he said quickly, almost stumbling on his words.

The black-haired boy looked back at him with an uncomprehending gaze. Or was it rejection? Maybe he didn't actually want Sabo to return. Sabo'd left them, whoever they were, after all, had left them to return to his noble family, and then he'd left again, setting sail only to be shot down. Why would he even want him back? As far as Sabo knew, he could have betrayed them at every point.

And he didn't even remember. Whatever accusations the raven would level at Sabo, he wouldn't be able refute any of them. He wouldn't be able to explain himself, because he lacked any kind of explanation himself. Why couldn't he simply remember?

Something was touching his hand, but Sabo couldn't bring himself to care, couldn't force his body to move even an inch. He was so tired. Why had he come here? His jaw clenched unwittingly as he closed his eyes, trying to stop his body from trembling. He should have just stayed away. This … This only served to emphasize his own helplessness. It only proved that his memories were truly gone, and that he couldn't do anything to change that fact.

The only thing he'd accomplished here was tear up old wounds, wrapped up and ignored until their existence had almost been forgotten.

Sabo barely noticed the hands sneaking around his neck, the boy jumping into his lap. He was so fucking tired. His head was so heavy. Unconsciously, he responded to the embrace, pressing his wet cheeks against the rough red material. He was so tired.

He didn't even try to fight against the blackness that soon attempted to take him.

xXx

Sabo woke on a wooden floor covered with rough blankets, the tender light of the morning sun entering through the window to chase away the heaviness of the night. He blinked tiredly, his head strangely light, before turning to the right. His body felt heavy in comparison, as if it still wanted to demand more rest after too much exercise the day before.

For a few seconds, his vision grew dark and he almost got sick with dizziness. Fortunately, he was already lying down, or he might have collapsed to the ground. After taking a few deep breaths, though, his head and stomach calmed down again, but he knew he'd have to take it easy for a while longer.

That didn't mean he felt like taking it easy, or that he would get the opportunity to just stay lying down and relax. When his vision finally cleared again, he looked at the boy lying next to him, an arm lazily draped over Sabo's chest, snoring loudly. Occasionally, the sounds were accompanied by a loud rumbling of the raven's stomach, so Sabo figured it wouldn't take him much longer to wake up.

 _"Hey! Are you a friend of Ace? Let's be friends!"_

Sabo blinked at the faint sounds, faint images, faint feelings of surprise and suspicion … at the faint memory. With no small amount of amazement, he stared at the raven slumbering next to him. Was this really …?

"Luffy …" Sabo whispered unconsciously, his voice filled with wonder. The name felt right rolling of his tongue, felt perfect for the bundle of energy he'd encountered yesterday. No. This wasn't the first time they'd met.

He stretched out his hand towards the boy next to him, his … What was Luffy to him? Sabo almost growled in frustration, but no matter what, he didn't want to wake Luffy. Not if he still didn't have any answers. What more did he have to do? Hadn't he already somehow scraped together the courage to come here, to confront his past? Didn't he deserve some reward for this accomplishment?

So incredibly selfish. Sabo smiled wryly in self-irony. Had he always been this stupidly selfish? Maybe Luffy would know. He might even tell him, if he was willing to talk to the awful person that Sabo was.

At some point during his contemplations, he'd started gently petting the boy's hair. Luffy immediately responded by snuggling closer to him, though he fortunately didn't wake up. A warm feeling spread in his chest at the innate trust he showed to Sabo. What had he ever done to earn it?

 _"We gotta kill him."_

"Yeah …" Sabo answered to the strangely familiar voice, still running his fingers through the dark strands. Then, the words registered, and he abruptly withdrew his hand, face frozen in horror. Had he … What had they …?

Luffy frowned in his sleep.

Sabo suddenly felt sick. That was a memory. That was his memory, too. Gods, what was wrong with him? Of course, his life hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows. How could he have ever relaxed here, with this stranger from his past, when he didn't know anything about him? What if …

What if he'd tried to kill Luffy in the past? Maybe they were enemies. Maybe that's what their relationship was all about, why Sabo recognised the boy. Luffy'd thought he was a ghost. Maybe he'd actually been disappointed to find out he was not, that his enemy had returned from beyond the grave.

What if this was a trap Luffy'd designed to kill him?

The raven turned onto his back, limbs spread far from him. A trail of saliva ran down his chin. "Meat …" he mumbled almost unintelligibly in his sleep.

… Maybe Sabo was overreacting.

Sabo released a shaky breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, running his now free hand through his unkempt locks. This was getting ridiculous. He had to find out the truth about his past now. Any further obsessing over what if's and he would take the final turn to complete and utter insanity.

Yet Luffy looked so peaceful, completely undisturbed by the gentle sunrays. Should he really disturb him? He was still a growing boy, he was … fourteen, Sabo suddenly knew with certainty. He definitely still needed his sleep more than Sabo needed his information.

Maybe, just this once, Sabo wouldn't be selfish.

Gently, he lifted his blanket from his body and draped it over the raven. Trying hard not to make any sounds (with quite amazing results – he was a fantastic spy, after all), Sabo stepped around Luffy and snuck out the door.

Said door led into a narrow hallway, which in turn led into an uneven stairway, which delivered him straight into the dining room of one of the shittiest bandit lairs he'd had the displeasure of stumbling into.

Sabo stared at the bandits, not quite sure what he'd expected of the house beyond the room Luffy had stuffed him in, just that it definitely wasn't that. Still, it had felt right for him to simply stroll down there. No worries about bandits and ambushes, murder and laundry.

Laundry?

The bandits stared at Sabo with what did seem to be amazement and disbelief, but surprisingly little amount of hostility despite the fact he'd suddenly shown up in their midst. "Dadan! He's awake!" a weaselly looking guy shouted in an annoyingly nasal voice.

A truly mountainous woman filled the door leading outside within seconds, effectively blocking Sabo's way to freedom. Not that he was thinking too much about fleeing, anyways. No, his brain was far too busy drawing new connections. "A truly manly worthless old hag …" he muttered.

"What was that, you dirty little troublemaker?" the woman, Dadan, the leader of the bandits downright screeched, approaching Sabo a bit too quickly for him to be comfortable with it. Were those tears on her cheeks?

"I'm not doing the laundry," he quickly said, furrowing his brow at the nonsensical way his brain worked. Dadan didn't seem to care.

"You're such a rude, inconsiderate brat!" she wailed, scooping him up in a tight hug. Sabo might have started to panic a little bit. "We thought you were dead, you little shit!"

"Sorry for the inconvenience," Sabo tried to calm her, but the words barely made it out of his mouth, muffled by the woman's shoulder as she tried to choke him. Seriously, he'd never wanted to get this close to a bandit in his life.

Still, some exasperated fondness reared in his chest as the woman cried into his shirt, yelling incoherently about her boys and other cheesy shit that didn't fit Dadan at all. Sabo'd always known she was a softie, but for her to actually show it …

His eyes widened. Slowly, he started patting her shoulder, subtly freeing himself from the awkward hug as Dadan started to calm down. Geez, even the bandits surrounding them seemed somewhat teary-eyed. The terror of Mt. Corvo, indeed.

His mind was reeling with the sudden onslaught of tiny snippets of his time before. Though, they hadn't spent much time here, had they? No, they'd run away into the forest, run away from … Sabo furrowed his brow, but still drew up empty.

"I'm sorry," he finally said as the mood had calmed a bit. He hesitated. Should he really? But he needed answers, desperately. "I know this is a little weird, but could I ask you some questions? My head's still a bit of mess," he admitted in the understatement of the year, tapping his scarred eye pointedly.

"Ah, head trauma, that explains it," the small bandit said, nodding sagely. Sabo barely refrained from raising a sceptical eyebrow. "You don't remember everything?"

More like he didn't remember anything, but Sabo didn't have to admit that. "Yeah," he replied a bit faintly, his voice trailing off. "Um …" His mind drew a bit of a blank, much to his frustration. "I didn't live here for long, did I," he finally settled on.

"You just showed up here one day with Ace and Luffy," the short bandit replied without hesitation, while the other bandits still eyed Sabo with a mixture of wariness and concern at his revelation. "But you moved to a treehouse not long after."

"All the better," Dadan muttered, her eyes still red and puffy. "'S not like this is a day care or something. We're the feared bandits of Mt. Corvo!"

Sabo just barely refrained from raising a sceptical eyebrow. But she did have a point – what were children doing in a bandits' lair? Sabo very much hoped that neither Luffy or Ace were related to any of the sad figures sitting around the meagre room.

"Luffy and Ace …" Sabo muttered under his breath, the names doing loops in his head, messing up his concentration with the tangle of emotions his subconscious associated with them. "Where is Ace, anyways?"

Ace was … Ace felt safe. But also complicated, oh so complicated. He seemed so stupid, so simple on the outside, but he was smarter than Sabo sometimes. He'd taught him, protected him. They'd protected each other. And Luffy, when he came along. Later.

"Oh, don't get me started on that ungrateful brat," Dadan growled, pride somehow lighting up her expression at the same time. "I fed him, raised him, put a roof over his head and that little shit dares to run off and leave me to deal with that monstrous grandfather of his!"

"We saw him off at the harbour in Foosha village a couple of months back," the short bandit, Dogra, translated. "He's already started making a name for himself as a pirate from what we've heard since then."

A Pirate from the East Blue with a special brand of craziness named Ace? Sabo could only think of one spectacular idiot that was rumoured to have had a rather dramatic showdown with a certain Shichibukai known for his loyalty to the Yonko Whitebeard. His stomach turned upside down with dread.

"Yeah, and every time his bounty rises that fool Garp comes knocking down my door," Dadan raged. "As if it's my fault the boy turned out to be a troublemaker! He was born with a devil's blood in his veins, I keep telling him! But noooo, I didn't raise him right!"

There was something that rang very true in her words, something that Sabo couldn't quite pinpoint. But then, his focus tunnelled in on one fact that he could deal with, even if he very, very much would like to avoid doing so. "Garp …" he muttered. Monkey D. Garp? As in Vice-Admiral Garp the Fist, a name that was very much not to be uttered in Dragon's presence?

"Sabooooo!" The loud yell finally alerted him to Luffy's presence, when his Haki should have long since notified him of it. He really needed to get his shit together quickly, especially if there was the possibility of that Vice-Admiral showing up at any time.

Despite his worries, Sabo easily caught Luffy. The raven-haired boy was grinning brightly when he looked up at Sabo, his eyes surprisingly dry. Wasn't he supposed to be a little crybaby that somehow couldn't avoid being eaten by crocodiles?

Sabo was seriously starting to doubt if he even wanted to know any more of what his childhood had been like.

"Where have you been?" Luffy suddenly demanded, the smile falling off his face. Sabo had never imagined Luffy could actually look mature and serious. "I missed you. Me'n'Ace both. We thought …"

They'd thought he was dead. Sabo's smile wavered slightly with guilt, but he reinforced it with sincerity. "Sorry, Lu," he said softly as his grip on Luffy's side strengthened slightly. "I got lost."

Luffy shook his head. "No, you never get lost. You're our navigator."

Sabo grinned at his stubborn confidence. "Sure, I do when I lose my compass." He mussed up Luffy's hair at his confused expression. "Come on, let's go get some food."

Luffy's face lit up. "Yes! Meat! What are we gonna catch? Bear? Crocodile?" His eyes twinkled. "Tiger?"

How about chicken? Pork? Venison? Sabo's mind helpfully suggested. "Let's start with crocodile," his mouth replied instead.

Yes, his childhood was a mess that looked to have been anything but idyllic. But somehow, Sabo looked forward to getting to the bottom of it.

xXx

"Ahh! That was," Sabo swallowed a big bite of crocodile meat, "delicious!" Surprisingly so. While Sabo couldn't claim to have eaten crocodile meat before (at least after the whole amnesia incident he was currently working past), he had tried some rather exotic dishes during his travels. He supposed that he could now finally tell Koala the reason for his strange tastes.

"Best meat ever!" Luffy faithfully agreed as he swallowed what appeared to be a chunk of one of the crocodiles' torsos. Sabo grinned at the creative use of the raven's devil fruit as Luffy fell on his back, his bloated stomach obviously more than full.

"Hey, Luffy," Sabo said after a brief silence as he picked annoying bits of meat from his teeth with a sharp bone. "We should totally spar tomorrow." It felt like something they'd used to do, something familiar. And it explained Sabo's fighting skills that had mystified his first trainers.

"Yeah!" Luffy shouted enthusiastically, rolling to his feet. "No! We should totally fight now!" Even though his punch into the air was full of energy, his round body didn't seem to agree with the statement as Luffy lost his balance and fell flat on his face.

"I don't think so," Sabo sniggered, shooting his bone into a nearby tree, before lying down next opposite the fire.

"Say, Luffy," Sabo continued more quietly as Luffy rolled back onto his back. "What was it like after I … left?" After he'd been blown up. Sabo still couldn't remember anything about that incident, not even vague feelings and flashes of memories like he'd had with Luffy, Ace and the bandits. It was probably something to be grateful for.

For a while, Luffy didn't speak. It was so unnatural for him to be this quiet that Sabo almost changed the subject, but finally, the younger boy responded.

"It was hard."

He started picking at the dry grass. "Ace was … You know how Ace is. He doesn't like being sad, so he was just angry, all the time. We fought a lot."

The way Luffy described Ace just fit. It felt right. While Sabo still hadn't confessed to Luffy that he couldn't remember most of what had gone down during their shared childhood, every second he spent with the boy made his memories feel almost … within reach. Tangible.

"You were always the nicer brother."

Brother. Sabo's heart beat faster at this word, filling his chest with a pleasant warmth. He had brothers. Not brothers of blood, he knew instinctively, but brothers he chose himself. Brothers he could now choose all over again.

"Why didn't you come back, Sabo?" Luffy had stopped looking at the clouded sky, turning his head to face his brother through the flames. His expression was uncharacteristically serious. "Did you go back to … to them?"

Them. The nobles, Sabo presumed, that the old man in the junkyard had mentioned. The "family", that had driven him to risk his life at sea just so he wouldn't have to stay with them. The people that, even when he couldn't remember them anymore, still had such a profound effect on his life that he'd missed out on Luffy and Ace growing up.

It was Sabo's turn to look into the night sky. "I …" he started, but his voice trailed off without reaching the end of the sentence he couldn't bring himself to finish. "The accident was bad," he said instead after a long pause. "I was lucky that the Revolutionaries found me when they did." His fingers dug aimlessly into the dirt next to his hip. "Do you know about the Revolutionary Army, Luffy?"

From the long silence, Sabo presumed that Luffy had shaken his head.

"They're amazing," he proclaimed, conviction bleeding into his words. "They fight against everything that is wrong with this world. Against the people that shot me," he turned to face Luffy. "They fight against their … undeserved power."

Luffy held his gaze unwaveringly, though he didn't voice his own opinion. Maybe he didn't have one. He was only fourteen, after all, and hardly any teenagers had been as politically involved at that age as Sabo had been.

Somehow, Sabo couldn't bear the silence for more than a moment. "I stayed with them after they healed me," he said, his voice devoid of any emotion. He didn't know what to feel anymore. His choice of becoming a Revolutionary had always been something he'd been proud of, immensely so, but now, lying on the ground next to Luffy, pondering what could have been – he suddenly felt guilt.

He should have come back sooner. After he'd recovered from the explosion, he shouldn't have just stuck his head into the sand. He should have pushed himself, pushed his mind to recover his precious memories that were only now, seven years later, finally starting to trickle back into his awareness.

Yet despite the clarity of this guilt, he couldn't bring himself to articulate it. How could he tell this boy, his brother, that he'd simply been too much of a coward to face his past earlier? That he'd taken the easy way out, had simply chosen to believe that his life before the explosion couldn't have been worth living if the story of his encounter with Dragon (that he didn't remember) and the fact that he'd sailed out on his own at the tender age of ten were any indication.

But Luffy didn't seem to mind his meagre explanation. "I bet you've been to tons of places already," Luffy sighed dreamily. The urge to travel, to see the world was obviously a family thing. "Did you write down your stories?"

Sabo spluttered. "That – I …" he broke off for a second, his face gaining a rosy colour because he was alive, definitely not blushing. "It's just a journal, okay? A log, basically!" It wasn't a diary, no matter what Koala liked to claim. And if he maybe, somewhere, in the deep corners of his mind, dreamt of the day when the revolution had ended and he could sit down, read through them, and maybe, maybe publish some of them – well, nobody had to know until he actually got the opportunity to do so, right?

"That's good!" Luffy exclaimed happily. "'Cause I really wanna read your book when you publish it, you know?"

Sabo stared, his face regaining its usual colour. How had he … Had this … "Don't worry, Lu," Sabo said softly. "You'll be the first one to read it." Energetic, almost illiterate Luffy who had to be forced to read even a single sentence, would be the first one Sabo presented it to. Because this was a dream that a ten-year-old Sabo, even if the adult hadn't recalled this for the longest time, had shared with his brothers that early on, and they'd encouraged him.

This was precious. Their relationship was precious. And Sabo intended to cherish it even when they were apart.

xXx

 _A/N: Hello again! So, some of you might surprise this, but I'm not actually dead. Hurray. I hope you enjoyed this sweet little story that has been lying around half-finished since I posted the last one!_

 _Thank you to all those that followed this story or sent me little hearts or left (short or long) reviews just so I could read and smile and feel encouraged. You're my heroes!_

 _And a special thanks to those who gave me new ideas, even if I'm obviously not spectacularly skilled at actually transforming them into a story. Let's all keep trying, though!_


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